Disabled parking bays at Ulster Hospital have been used to park a pizza van in a bid to treat staff.

And another area of the car park used for easy access to the building for patients with restricted mobility, has been used to park a black BMW.

The BMW and a second car, believed to be associated with the log fired pizza company, were protected from being clamped or hit with a parking penalty thanks to red tape placed around the vehicles.

It is understood the pizza company offered to spend most of the day parked up at the hospital to treat staff to free slices of pizza.

The South Eastern Health Trust acknowledged the decision to offer staff free pizza may have caused some inconvenience.

But the husband of a woman with Multiple Sclerosis is furious that his wife, members of the MS Support group and other patients and visitors with restricted mobility, have been prevented from using the car parking spaces closest to the hospital entrance.

The BMW is parked beside the disabled bays at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald

He told Belfast Live: "This is ridiculous. We come to hospital and this disabled car park because we have to, because people have illnesses and conditions, because they need help and they've to meet appointments to try to keep going as well as possible.

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"The disabled parking bays are not intended for pizza trucks. They are intended for use by people who've been issued a blue badge, who are entitled to use a disabled parking bay, who have a disability or are accompanying a person with a disability to and from an appointment or a disabled person visiting a patient.

"There are plenty of parking spaces at the Ulster Hospital that are not for the use of people with disabilities.

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"But someone in management in the hospital has decided the best place for the pizza shop is in the optimum disabled parking spaces right at the entrance to the hospital.

"Knowing the NHS staff as we do, I'm sure they'd have been happy enough to walk a few metres to the next car park to pick up their treat.

"Instead the pizza van and two cars are parked in the wrong place and one of them is right under the disabled car parking notice at the entrance to the hospital, the most vital car parking spaces on the property."

A spokesperson for the South Eastern Health Trust said: "We acknowledge that the decision to offer our staff free pizza for a day may have caused some inconvenience.

"However, 20% of our spaces on site are designated for blue badge holders, which far exceeds guidance and other large organisations.

"We work closely with Disability Action to ensure we are ahead of the curve in the provision of accessible spaces and in addition we offer a Shop Mobility Service to assist members of the public to and from their vehicle.

"The offer of a free pizza to our valued staff as a means of recognition for the great work they provide under considerable pressure has been very welcome. The event lasted for seven hours, and normal parking arrangements resumed at 7pm."

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